This invention relates to surgical fastening instruments and methods, and more particularly to surgical fastening (e.g., surgical stapling) instruments and methods which are at least partly self-powered.
There is increasing interest in surgical fastening instruments such as surgical staplers which are self-powered, or at least partly self-powered. To the extent that such an instrument is self-powered, it saves work and time, produces results which are less subject to variation from user to user, and can be made less subject to variation from faulty use. Many surgical fastening procedures, however, require the application of considerable force, and it is difficult to store the energy required to develop such force in an instrument which typically must be relatively small.
It is therefore an object of this invention to improve and simplify surgical fastening instruments and methods, particularly those which are at least partly self-powered.
There is also increasing interest in surgical fastening instrument which are disposable after use in a single surgical procedure. This avoids the considerable expense of cleaning and sterilizing the instrument between uses. Again, however, it may be difficult or impossible to develop the relatively large forces required in many surgical fastening procedures using instruments made of the relatively inexpensive materials and having the lightweight construction typically required to make the instrument economically disposable. This is particularly a problem where the large forces must be applied at a location remote from the location at which the instrument is manipulated.
It is therefore another object of this invention to provide surgical fastening instruments which are at least partly self-powered, are capable of developing relatively large forces, and are economically disposable.